Synthetic polymers are widely used in biomedical applications as well as in other articles that come into contact with human skin or tissues, including clothing. Polymers frequently used in biomedical applications include acrylics, polyurethanes, silicones and various hydrophilics. In the area of optical lenses, including intraocular and contact lenses, typically used polymers are polymethylmethacrylate, polyphenylethyl methacrylate, cellulose acetate butyrate, silicone-methylmethacrylate co-polymers, methylmethacrylate co-polymers with hydrophilic compounds, as well as hydrogels such as those based on hydroxyethylmethacrylate and dihydroxypropylmethacrylate. Common to these materials is that they provide for surfaces that are very different from known biological surfaces and therefore exhibit various degrees of tissue- or bio-incompatibility. Co-polymers that include amino acids were described by Bawa in U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,506. However, because the amino acids contained in the polymers described by Bawa are anionic and lack free alpha-amino-carbonic acid groups, they do not significantly improve the biocompatibility of polymers. The present invention specifically relates to polymers and co-polymers of side chain-active acrylic amino acids. Side chain active acrylic amino acids are not miscible with acrylic building blocks in solvent-free systems of the state of the art. It was surprisingly found that protective groups added to the α-amino group of the building blocks of the invention made the side chain-active acrylic amino acids miscible with acrylic building blocks of the state of the art. The inclusion of amino acids or amino acid derivatives containing free alpha-amino-carbonic acid groups (after deprotection of the α-amino-group) in the polymers or co-polymers of the invention results in polymer surfaces that exhibit tissue compatibilities or bio-compatibilities that closely resemble those of biological materials. Because the amino acids or amino acid derivatives incorporated in the polymers are not linked via peptidic bonds, the polymers are resistant to biological degradation by tissue proteases. Furthermore, the presence of amino acids or amino acid derivatives in the polymers of the invention increases their hydrophilicity. This property translates into enhanced uptake of water, oxygen permeability and surface wetting.